Apple Releases Critical Security Updates for OS X, Safari and Others

As scheduled, Apple has released security updates this week for Mac OS X, Safari, iOS devices, and Apple TV to address numerous vulnerabilities.

The Safari updates are particularly important because they include fixes for 10 browser bugs that could be exploited by hackers to inflict “drive by downloads. This is where a user can be diverted to a malicious or infected web site where malware is then downloaded on the user computer.

Apple also highlighted that a known problem for automatically connecting WI-FI networks has been fixed for the Mac.

Apple has stopped shipping security updates for the 2009 OS X Snow Leopard, which is estimated to be installed on about 15% of all Macs. Unlike Microsoft, which publishes its support schedule , Apple simply stops producing security updates without notice.